TREE OF LIFE
by ZenaGreen
Summary: Mrs. Black wants to remember. - A different take on the Marauders' time-line that starts with a little mystery. You will not only get to see our boys (and many more familiar faces along with some brand new characters) in Hogwarts but you will witness how the first Order of the Phoenix was found by Albus Dumbledore during the First Wizarding War.
1. PROLOGUE

**NOTES**

\- English is not my mother tongue, take that into consideration please.

\- Please review so that I can get better. :)

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**PROLOGUE**

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**AUGUST 1993**

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Diagon Alley, usually very crowded and loud, was nearly empty because of the Dementors patrolling up and down. Everyone who was brave enough to go out, or simply had no other choice, was in a hurry to get to their destinations as quickly as possible. Even though it was still August, autumn had fallen down on London. Pouring rain had frozen in little ponds where Dementors were dense.

A woman walked into the alley from the entrance in Leaky Cauldron. She was holding pieces of paper, cut out from the Daily Prophet, tightly. As they got wet, newspaper clippings turned almost into a big ball of dough in her fist. She didn't seem to have taken any precautions against the rain. The woman, who looked in her thirties, had short black hair levelled with her chin that stuck around her wet face. Her cloak was dragging behind her, drenched in mud.

As she strode along the alley, her grey eyes didn't leave the pavement for one second. She seemed to be unaware of both the unusual emptiness of Diagon Alley and the Dementors rattling threateningly under their hoods. She kept on walking sternly for a while more, then stopped. She was at the intersection between Diagon and Knockturn Alley. She looked around with uncertain eyes apparently searching for something. She opened her hand and tried to separate the pieces of paper, that might as well be glued together at this point, hopelessly. She gave up with a sigh and checked the inner pocket of her cloak. Pulling out another piece of paper, she looked at it. She hoisted her head up and, examining her surroundings, stood in front of a building that was barely separable from a simple wall. The windows of this place were so dirty that it was very difficult to believe light could still shine through them. There was an old advert hung on the entrance door. It was difficult to make out what it said apart from the title which was:

'HAVE _YOU_ PREPARED YOUR **TREE OF LIFE** YET?'

She stood there for a while wondering what _on earth_ a Tree of Life was. She then, lifted her head up to make sure she was at the right place. There was a little sign attached right above the entrance door. It simply read:

'**EUSTACE'S**'

Even though she expected the door to be locked, she attempted to open it, and to her surprise, it opened. A little bell rang indicating that a new customer has arrived. It was quite dark inside so it took her a while to adjust to the gloomy environment. She found herself in a box-like room. It was unlikely that anyone stepped into this place for a long time. Every item in the room was covered in a two-inch thick layer of dust and dirt. Velvet, crimson drapes covered the entire right wall. But, then again, maybe it wasn't a wall at all. There was light gleaming softly underneath the drapes. She debated herself for a while looking vaguely at the 'wall'. She was startled when a pearly white figure glided slowly through the drapes and stood behind a counter she didn't realize was there.

'Good days my dear lady.' said the see-through man in a friendly voice. 'How may I be of service?'

She showed the little piece of paper she previously took out from the inner pocket of her robes. It seemed to be some kind a receipt. EUSTACE'S was written on the top and the numbers 10845 was written below.

'Aaa,' said the ghost knowingly. 'Welcome back Miss Severe.'

The young woman looked suddenly at the man's eyes, glittering with wit, after hearing her name but started talking, trying to sound as calm as possible.

'I,' she said with a hoarse voice, 'want to remember.'

She threw the sticky roll of paper in her hand onto the counter. Only the words, 'AZKABAN' could be barely read amongst the mash of ink and paper and the loathing eyes of a vampire-like man could be seen piercing through the moving picture.

'Are you certain?' asked the old man seriously. 'There was a reason you wanted to forget what happened Miss Severe, It was your own choice.'

She stared at the barely-visible man thoughtfully for a brief moment then looked at the ring on her finger.

'I think, sir,' she showed the ring to him this time, 'It'll be more appropriate if you call me Mrs. Black.'


	2. THE BET

**thosetooweaktoseekit: I really want to play it out to the end either. I have big plans for this story! :) Everyday I wish she would write about the Marauders as well. That's why I decided to start this story anyway. :)**

**Guest: Thanks! I intend to keep writing, I hope I can. :)**

I'm back with another chapter. I hope you enjoy!

**NOTE**: I realized I made a logical mistake and wanted to fix it but I'm new here, I didn't know you could replace a chapter, so I ended up deleting it. Sorry for the inconvenience. Won't happen again.

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**CHAPTER TWO: THE BET**

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**1 SEPTEMBER 1977**

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Victoria Severe was walking the very narrow corridors of the Hogwarts Express along with a rather large group of people, all of whom had badges on their chest, trying to get to her compartment. The prefects' meeting was recently over and unlike the usual responsibility and slight boredom students felt after this meeting, there was a mixture of muffled laughter and confusion hanging over them. Majority of the crowd separated into their own compartments until Toria (She had a strong disliking towards her full name and ended up looking rather scary especially if called Vicky.) reached her destination. Following her, was James Potter. He turned around and gave Remus Lupin, who had been after James, a grumpy look mixed with amusement. James gestured towards the inside of the compartment they had just reached. Inside were Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. There was a mischievous gleam in Sirius' eyes that Remus came to know that only meant trouble. Remus smiled sympathetically towards James, knowing what was about to happen.

James opened the compartment door and saw Sirius bowing so low that his nose almost touched his toes.

'It is an honour to welcome your Highness into our humble compartment.'

'Would my lord fancy a foot rub perhaps?' Peter continued, also bowing.

Toria gave a loud laugh that eventually caused everyone else to break down. Even though James was trying his very best to look affronted, his body was rocking with very poorly suppressed laughter. Lily was the first one to manage to take control of herself.

'Move along, you.' she said poking James slightly. 'You're blocking the entrance.'

Lily went in followed by Toria and Remus. There were two more girls after them; Zoe Brooke and Georgiana Berry. They too went in and sat next to Lily who was sitting next to James.

'Can somebody please explain,' said Georgie, a small girl with pixie cut blonde hair, 'why _on earth_ was James made to be the Head Boy?'

Sirius gave a bark of laughter.

'I know this rumour had been around for a while but I think, Dumbledore finally lost it,' said Toria finally settling on a seat next to Remus.

'Hey!' Lily protested.

'I'm afraid I'll have to agree with that,' Zoe giggled. She was a black girl with dark, curly, long hair and equally dark, large eyes. 'I mean how else can you explain Dumbledore choosing James instead of Remus? He _was_ the prefect.'

'Well,' said Remus humbly, 'I wasn't exactly a great prefect. I can't say I ever managed to contain―'

'_him_.' Toria completed. 'And now _he_ gets to be the Head Boy? You know, maybe we should make Peeves the Headmaster next year, why not?'

'I can't say that didn't hurt,' James looked at Toria with false anger.

Toria rolled her eyes.

'All right Potter,' she said looking at him with a smile. 'If you can give me one logical reason why you were chosen, then I promise I'll never say another word against you again.'

He opened and closed his mouth for a while silently.

'He _is_ a Quidditch captain,' Lily said after a while, patting James' arm, 'that can indicate responsibility and discipline.'

There was even a louder burst of laughter than before that James also joined in.

'Responsibility and d-discipline!' Sirius howled.

'Wow, Lily,' said Remus, also laughing, 'I don't think anyone could've come up with two words more unrelated to Prongs.'

Lily turned scarlet and looked sharply at James who was wiping tears from his eyes.

'I'm trying to defend _you_, you know.'

James stopped laughing immediately and cleared his throat.

'Yes,' he said with a hoarse voice, 'Sorry.'

Sirius and Toria exchanged looks.

'What was that?' Sirius asked curiously pointing a finger at James.

'What was what?' He shrugged.

'Lily defended _you_,' said Toria staring first at Lily then James, 'and _you_ apologized to her.'

'Let's not forget the fact that you happen to be sitting next to each other.' added Zoe, nodding.

'Yea,' Georgie joined in, 'when did you become so friendly anyway?'

'Are you suggesting we shouldn't be friendly?' Lily asked stiffly, avoiding others' gaze.

'No,' Remus added smiling, 'I think they're suggesting maybe you're a little bit too friendly.'

'Oh no,' said Sirius grinning, 'I think you're exactly the right amount of friendly.'

'Thanks, er, Padfoot,' James said, unsure where this might lead to.

'You're welcome mate. Because,' Sirius continued, looking at Toria wickedly, 'I'm suggesting that I've finally won the bet.'

'I'm not even sorry that I've lost Mr. Black.' Toria shook Sirius' hand, smiling.

'What bet?' Lily looked around, confused.

'Isn't it a little too early to celebrate?' Peter asked, avoiding Lily's question.

'I don't think so,' said Zoe looking at Lily frantically. 'Did you realize that Lily wasn't surprised at all when James walked into the meeting with a Head Boy badge stuck to his chest? I thought maybe she was trying to keep calm but now, I don't think so.'

'You're right,' Georgie gasped, 'You don't think James was the one―'

'Oh my God, he totally was!' Toria jumped up in excitement.

'Wait,' Remus looked at the enthusiastic faces of Toria, Georgie and Zoe, 'Now I'm confused. James was the one what?

Lily's face almost looked the same colour as her hair. Standing up, she tried to force Toria down to her seat.

'Nothing, don't listen to her.' she said placing one of her hands next to her mouth as if telling a secret, then continued silently 'You know these Slytherins' tendency to lie.'

'Fine,' Toria lifted her hands in defeat. 'say_ I'm_ lying. what about Zoe and Georgie? One of them is in Ravenclaw and the other's in Hufflepuff.'

'Can you explain what you're talking about?' Peter asked.

'Lily had a secret pen pal all summer,' Georgie laughed.

'She went into a corner _everyday_ and written at least a two-page long letter to a mystery person.' Zoe avoided Lily's hand that was trying to cover her mouth. 'We've been trying to guess who it was all summer.'

'Hey, you told us you had been talking to April Livingstone!' Sirius objected, Remus nodded.

'I was!' James argued desperately.

'WHAT?' Lily let go of Zoe and turned to James piercingly.

'I-I'm,' James stammered then sighed deeply. 'Fine! We've been writing to each other all summer. Happy?'

Toria laughed triumphantly.

'Yes!' She turned to Lily who had her arms crossed in defeat. 'And as you can see dear Lily, us Slytherins don't always lie.'

'I know,' she muttered and sat back next to James, pouting.

'Why are you sulking?' asked Remus, grinning, 'That's great news!'

James and Lily smiled, looking at each other.

'Yea,' Sirius leaned back happily, 'I've been losing the bet to this one' - he gestured towards Toria - 'for two years now.'

'What _is_ this bet anyway?' James asked.

'Black keeps betting me that you'll be together by the end of the year.'

'Hold on, you _are_ together, aren't you?' Peter asked.

James looked at Lily for a while, then put his arm around her. Lily beamed, pink-cheeked.

'Aww,' Georgie smiled.

'Alright, it's official then.' Sirius said putting out a hand towards Toria. 'Pay up Severe.'

Toria rolled her eyes.

'Don't look so cocky, Black,' she took out a Galleon and handed it to Sirius, 'I'm only giving your money back to you.'

'Still,' he flipped the coin in his hand, 'victory is mine.'

'So,' said Lily addressing Toria, 'you've been betting against us, have you?'

'Vicky's in trouble.' Sirius laughed.

Toria winced.

'Call me that again and we'll see who's the one in trouble Black.'

'So scary,' said Sirius sarcastically.

Toria avoided him.

'And I've been betting against you only because I know how stubborn you are sweetheart.'

'She has a point,' James smiled. Lily slapped him jokingly on his leg.

'We should be going,' said Georgie standing up. 'We're supposed to patrol the corridors.'

'Right.' Remus, Toria and Zoe joined Georgie.

'You,' James pointed at Toria 'are not going anywhere Miss.'

'I've got prefect duties.'

'Well, I'm the Head Boy and I say that you don't.'

'Why?'

'Just sit down, I want to talk to you.'

'Alright,' she said as the others left the compartment.

'I heard,' He gave Lily a quick look while Toria sat down, 'that you've got yourself a Golden Snidget over the summer.'

Toria looked sharply at Lily.

'A _secret_ Snidget.' She corrected.

'Sorry.' Lily mouthed.

'Anyway, I'd like one as well.' James said enthusiastically.

'You can't,' Toria replied sternly. 'Snidgets are not toys Potter.'

'How come you've got one, then?' Sirius asked.

'I have a licence. I had been trying to earn it since I turned 17.'

'I also happen to be 17, Toria, unless you realized.'

'Look James,' Toria spoke matter-of-factly. 'My father is a magizoologist who happens to be responsible for one of the few Snidget sanctuaries around the world and he breeds Hippogriffs and Thestrals for racing, a tradition that goes a long way back in our family. I learned everything I know from him and I have an outstanding O.W.L in Care of Magical Creatures. I am sure you understand that I have just a little bit of an edge over you in this particular matter.'

'Show-off,' Sirius muttered.

'Can't you teach him?' Lily asked loudly as Toria opened her mouth with a comeback.

Toria considered this idea for a while.

'I, um, I suppose,' she said finally looking at Lily's pleading eyes. 'But you'll have to come over to my place to get your Snidget.' She looked at James this time.

'Why can't you train me here?' asked James curiously.

'Oh, I _will_ train you here, but these birds are very delicate creatures. I can't just send you one with owl post now, can I? Also, Snidgets have a hard time trusting people. You have to allow them to get used to your presence before you can take one with you. And even then I can't guarantee you'll be able to have a license.'

'Sounds like a lot of work,' said Peter.

'Well, it is.' Toria nodded smiling. 'You still want one?'

'Yea!' he said boldly. 'It would be awesome to have my own Golden Snidget.'

Lily suddenly gasped.

'You can come to Toria's over the Christmas holiday this year and we'll get to spend it together!' She squeezed James' arm enthusiastically.

'I guess I'll be spending Christmas alone with Mr. and Mrs. Potter then?' asked Sirius grumpily.

'Don't be ridiculous Sirius, you can come too,' said Lily then added unsurely, looking at Toria, 'He can, right?'

Sirius looked at Toria incredulously.

'Of course, you can Black,' Toria said sincerely.

'How about you Peter?' asked Lily as Remus Zoe and Georgie came back into the compartment.

'What about Peter?' asked Remus, sitting down next to him.

'We'll be at Toria's for Christmas this year apparently,' said James grinning.

Georgie and Zoe cheered.

'What?' Remus sounded alarmed. 'That may not be a great idea for me.'

James and Sirius looked at each other for a moment. Peter counted something using his fingers.

'Oh,' said James suddenly sounding serious. 'that's right. We cannot go anywhere this Christmas.'

'Why not?' Georgie looked confused.

'We have plans.' said Sirius simply.

'Damn. I really wanted that Snidget.'

'They know about the Golden Snidget?' asked Zoe.

'Lily told James,' Toria explained.

They all stared outside the window for a while silently. Night had started to fall as stars blinked now and then on the sky. They must have been getting close.

'You should go,' said Remus. 'I'll stay.'

'I'll stay with Remus,' said Peter. 'My parents don't allow me to spend Christmas apart from at Hogwarts or at home anyway.'

'No,' said James sternly. 'We're not going without you.'

'Why _can't _you come Remus?' insisted Georgie.

Toria noticed Lily had been unusually silent recently.

'You know why,' said Toria. 'Don't you Lily?'

'Yes,' she said thoughtfully. 'It wouldn't be a problem Remus,' she added kindly.

Remus shook his head.

'It's too dangerous.'

'You can trust them,' Lily assured looking straight in Remus' eyes. 'I didn't tell them because you asked me not to but believe me, you have nothing to be afraid of. I know them, _you_ know them.'

Remus looked at James, Sirius and Peter in turn, asking for support.

'It's your decision mate,' said Sirius patting him on the shoulder.

James nodded approvingly.

Silent fell again as Remus rubbed his chin nervously. After what seemed like forever, he took a deep breath.

'Okay,' he murmured, looking intently in their eyes. 'I'll tell you.'

He cleared his throat.

'I-I am a lycanthrope.'

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	3. INTO THE PENSIEVE

**I'm sorry it's been a long time since I posted the last chapter but I had midterms unfortunately.**

**Also there has been no reviews for the last chapter so please, if you read it leave a review. It won't take much of your time and will very much help me!**

**Anyway, enjoy! :)**

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**CHAPTER THREE: INTO THE PENSIEVE**

Victoria Black fell onto the ground, panting. She looked around with confused eyes, trying to understand what had just happened.

'Are you alright ma'am?' asked a young man, coming up to her. He was a rather small, round-faced man with very pale skin as if he hadn't been out in the sunlight for a long time. Contrary to his complexion though, he had chocolate coloured eyes and hair.

'Wha-what did just happen?' asked Toria, her heart pounding in her ears.

'That was the first memory that you wanted to forget,' he said, pointing towards the Pensieve Toria obviously just had her face in. 'Well, half of it actually. You got out too soon.'

He helped Toria get up and brought a stool to have her sit down along with a glass of water.

'Forget?' she repeated as she took a sip. 'But I knew what was going to happen.'

There was a discerning smile on the little man's face.

'Really? What happens next, then?'

She inhaled to speak but realised she didn't know. There was something though, like a name she remembered from a dream.

'Fenrir Greyback,' she whispered. The man raised his eyebrows incredulously. Toria shook her head. 'I-I don't know.'

She examined the room around her for a while, trying to calm down. Apart from the pearly-white ghosts that were floating around, it was filled with tall, cone-shaped figures that were shimmering , lighting the entire room. Looking closely - as she was sitting right in front of one that was labelled Victoria Black - she realised they were nothing but containers that held many flasks which were filled with a substance. It was neither gas nor liquid and was the reason these containers shimmered.

'What is this place?' asked Toria curiously. 'Who are you?'

'My name is Bryson Eustace and here is a memory bank,' explained the man simply. 'My family owned this place for generations.' He looked at Toria but seeing she still had a confused expression on her face, he continued. 'This is a container holding your memories ma'am,' he gestured towards the glistening figure. 'We call it a 'Tree of Life'. I was actually named by one of our early customers. She said it reminded her of a Christmas tree.'

'But, why am I here? I mean, why does this place even exist?'

'Well,' the ghost that was behind the counter earlier, spoke in a misty voice. 'I guess it started when I wanted to help out my sister. Her only son was killed by a werewolf, and she was devastated. I watched her melt away day by day with grief and decided that I couldn't let this go on. So I bewitched her to forget about the death of her son but stored her memories in case she wanted to remember. She was happy after that and was able to move on. It's controversial of course; is it really ethical to just forget about a person? But the people who knew what I did - I had to inform others you see, otherwise they could come up and ask her about her son - wanted me to do the same for them. And eventually, it became what it is today.'

'What am I doing here, then?' asked Toria miserably. 'Sirius Black's not dead. Am I really that selfish to abandon my husband because he was in Azkaban?'

Bryson smiled kindly.

'I don't think that's the reason you're here ma'am.'

'How would _you_ know?' she snapped. 'You don't even know me.'

'No, I don't.' He looked at her left hand. 'But I understand there is a reason you're still wearing that ring today. I doubt you ever took it off.'

'I didn't,' she waved her hand dismissively, 'but that's irrelevant. I didn't even know it was a wedding ring until very recently.'

'I remember every single customer that I had, Mrs. Black ,' said the ghost warmly. ' We asked you to hand the ring to us; however, you refused. I warned you that it would lead you right back here but you said you had a promise to keep. Maybe you don't realize it but that ring kept you connected to your past. I think that tells us something.'

She touched the ring on her finger affectionately. She wore it for as long as she could remember but she always thought it was a family heirloom. That's what her parents told her. If it wasn't about Sirius Black, then _who did she want to forget_? What was the pain she had tried to avoid so desperately? She inhaled deeply.

'Do you want to continue?' asked Bryson.

She nodded. She couldn't bare not knowing anymore. Even if the truth was difficult to face, she had to do it. She sank her face back into the Pensieve and started falling down, then suddenly, she was back on the Hogwarts Express.

'I-I am a lycanthrope.'

A heavy silence fell onto the compartment as the others stared at Toria, Georgie and Zoe nervously, wondering how they would react. Just as Toria opened her mouth, Georgie spoke.

'Fenrir Greyback,' she whispered, looking into Remus' eyes intently. 'He did it, didn't he?'

Remus nodded ever so slightly. This was not the reaction he expected. There were tears glistening in Georgie's eyes.

'He, um,' her voice was trembling even though she tried to suppress it, 'he attacked my little brother as well.'

The girls exchanged anxious looks. They knew that Georgie had lost her younger brother three years ago but they never saw her talking about it. They assumed there had been an accident of some sort. He was a blonde, round-faced boy with amber eyes just like his sister. He would have been starting Hogwarts this year.

'I'm sorry,' said Remus, brushing her cheek with his fingers to wipe her tears.

'You should count yourself lucky,' said Georgie suddenly, sounding fierce. 'It's not very often that he lets people go with only a bite.'

'I know,' he said darkly.

Lily gave Georgie a comforting hug as Toria and Zoe joined in.

Georgie smiled weakly.

'That's rubbish,' said Toria suddenly as all eyes turned on her. 'I mean, that's not an excuse Remus. You think I won't let you in because you're a werewolf?'

Lily nodded, smiling but Remus shook his head.

'There's a full moon on Christmas Eve. What if I attack any of you?' He shuddered at the idea.

'What do you do at _Hogwarts_ during full moon, then?' asked Zoe.

The boys looked at each other with a wicked grin on all their faces and told their story. They told how they found out Remus was a werewolf and became Animagi to accompany him during every full moon. How the Whomping Willow was planted for Remus and how the Shrieking Shack was never haunted in the first place. How they have seen every inch there is to be seen of Hogwarts grounds and made a map of it, signing it with the nicknames they gave each other; Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.

'Once,' Sirius gave a bark of laughter, 'we tricked Moony here to run all around the Forbidden Forest hoping he can get laid.'

'How did you manage that?' Georgie giggled.

'Apparently, Padfoot is surprisingly good at imitating female werewolf calls.' James gave Sirius a mischievous grin.

They howled with laughter again. All of them were crammed in a single horseless carriage pulling them to the enormous wooden doors of Hogwarts by now. Rain was pouring down mercilessly and everyone was soaking wet but they didn't seem to care. When they reached the entrance and got down from the carriage, they were all shivering, their chins, clattering.

Charms professor Flitwick was standing right inside the doors and was placing enchantments on students to dry them off. As the warmth of Flitwick's spell embraced Toria she felt really sorry for the first years who had to come to the castle by boats.

All the students walked into the Great Hall one by one and seated themselves on their house tables. Everyone was eager for the Sorting Ceremony to end quickly so that they could enjoy the food that would fill the now empty golden platters. Toria positioned herself at the Slytherin table, which was the table closest to the entrance, and watched as Zoe sat down amongst the Ravenclaws, Georgie with the Hufflepuffs, and the rest found their seats at the Gryffindor table.

A moment later Toria was joined by her friends Brianna Morin and Logan Sanders. They were two of the few Slytherins who didn't refer to Muggle-born witches and wizards as mudbloods.

'Hey Toria!' Logan called happily over the noise of the students who were talking about their summer holidays. He was a boy one could say who developed early. He was rather tall and muscular with a full auburn beard he apparently grew over the summer. His green eyes were gleaming under his thick eyebrows. 'What you think of the beard?' He combed it slightly with his fingers.

'It looks cool.' Toria nodded, smiling. She gave him a thumbs up. 'What do you think Bri?'

'Not bad,' said Brianna tilting her head slightly, examining him. She was a brunette with full lips and heavy freckles. Other Slytherin girls often enjoyed mocking her about her freckles so it was a subject she was sensitive about. 'You look a little scary, though, to be honest.'

'Oh, what do _you_ know?' he waved a dismissive hand. 'So, _captain_,' he looked at Toria again, 'are we winning the Quidditch Cup this year again?'

Toria was the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and was a chaser just like Logan. He was very competitive and ambitious about Quidditch and his friendship with Toria took a blow when she was made the captain instead of him. They made peace, however, when Slytherin won the Quidditch cup two years in a row.

'I can't see why not,' Toria said, grinning. If there was one person who was more ambitious than Logan, it was Toria. She looked at James as she remembered last year's final match. Slytherin had won 170 to 60. It had been a difficult match but Regulus Black, the Slytherin seeker, was an amazing player. Not that James wasn't well, of course. He was a mean flier, and a good captain. Unfortunately though, (fortunately for Slytherin) Gryffindor's dream team had separated when James was made the captain and the team had adjusting problems ever since.

Toria was distracted when the drenched first years walked into the Great Hall. She wondered if it would have made any difference whatsoever if they had _swam_ across the lake. Professor McGonagall brought a stool and an extremely dirty and patched pointed hat into the Hall as silence fell over the students. A slit opened up near the brim of the Sorting Hat and it started to sing. Toria didn't listen to it, really. It was all the same every year. Even though it was a new song, she didn't need to hear it to know the qualities of each house. Instead, she let her mind ponder over the ton of new information she had just learnt about her friend Remus.

She didn't want the boys to stay at Hogwarts just because Remus felt like he couldn't come too. She appreciated and was impressed, to be honest, by the friendship between the "_Marauders_" as they called themselves. She couldn't think of anyone in Slytherin who would do that for one another.

Suddenly, she decided to write to her father, Damien Severe, about Remus' condition first thing in the morning, maybe he could find a solution. Damien, although very curious and sometimes meddlesome, was a harmless man. He was very knowledgeable about magical creatures and their behaviours. She was sure he would be helpful and discreet. After all, not all the research Damien made was, strictly speaking, legal. So he knew how to keep his lips sealed. The only concern she had was that her father might see Remus as an experiment rather than a guest.

Over at the Gryffindor table, Sirius and James were talking silently.

'Is she still looking?' asked Sirius. He had his back turned to the Slytherin table and was referring to Cynthia Parkinson: An annoying, arrogant girl who had somewhat of an obsession with Sirius.

James took a quick peek at her. Parkinson was talking to her friend Deidra Thorn and she looked rather miserable. She kept throwing teary-eyed glances at Sirius under her bangs.

'Yes,' answered James apologetically.

'She was sending me love letters over the summer too,' said Sirius irritably. 'We broke up over the Christmas holiday. Get over it already, will you?' he said a little louder than he intended.

'It's your fault,' said Lily, overhearing their conversation. 'You shouldn't have dated her in the first place. I mean, what were you thinking?'

Sirius turned around to look at Parkinson briefly. There was a guilty smile on his face when he faced the others again.

'She's so hot,' he shrugged. Lily rolled her eyes and Remus grinned. 'Also, Slytherin girls are so easy. Once they know you're a pure-blood, you're a god to them.'

'Oh, really?' asked Lily with a mischievous grin she borrowed from James. 'So you can seduce _any_ Slytherin girl, can you?

Sirius looked at Lily with narrowed eyes.

'What's on your head, red?'

Lily stared at Sirius defiantly for a while then gestured towards the Slytherin table with her head.

'Work your pure-blood charm on Toria then.' Her lips curved up in a confident smile. She knew only too well that Toria did not share the pure-blood mania that was very popular among the Slytherins.

Sirius snorted.

'Please,' he said with disregard. 'consider it done.'

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**If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to tell me about them! :)**


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